Reducing racism, sexism, and homophobia in college students by completing a psychology of prejudice course

College Student Journal, June, 2008 by Terry F. Pettijohn, II, Amy S. Walzer

These results highlight the value of completing and actively participating in a specific Psychology of Prejudice course in reducing racism, sexism, and homophobic attitudes of college students. Discussions, activities, journal article reviews, readings, and writing assignments allowed students to better understand themselves and gain insight and appreciation for those who are different. The current results show that doing well academically in a prejudice course is not sufficient to reap the potential benefits of prejudice reduction. Active involvement in class exercises, discussions, and required readings was related to more prejudice reduction in the current investigation. More colleges may consider adding prejudice and diversity classes in the future based on these encouraging results, but who teaches the course, how the course is organized, what material is covered, and how actively involved the students are may lead to different outcomes.

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